Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The Picture of Dorian Gray: An Annotated, Uncensored Edition by Oscar Wilde, Nicholas Frankel

60 reviews

ambdocksey22's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The only reason I am not giving this book 5 stars is because of the racially insensitive language throughout the book. I understand the time that it was written but I hated reading through every passage that contained a slur or some kind of racial hatred. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Dysphoria

morebedsidebooks's review

dark

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

The Picture of Dorian Gray an Annotated, Uncensored Edition edited by Nicholas Frankel is a beautiful and indispensable edition of the story’s emended typescript submitted to Lippincotts Monthly Magazine. Frankel, who has also authored books on Oscar Wilde, takes on the added task of offering context around a controversial 19th century novel and author. Extensive notes and pictures add much dimension. However, at the same time essays of over 60 pages particularly the preface and general introduction fall short in more than one respect as well as some annotations. Judging from other writing by Frankel he cannot be ignorant of details or distinctions. So, this obliqueness in Frankel’s approach leaves me cold in recommending his books on Wilde. Outside this version of Dorian Gray that is, which I happen to like best as one of my favourite novels. 

See my blog for an in-depth review of The Picture of Dorian Gray. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Suicide and Alcohol

Minor: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Misogyny, and Antisemitism

safety_pin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Self harm, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Violence, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

michayla13's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Death of parent

Minor: Racial slurs

blymanor's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

Oscar Wilde is brilliant at writing about different perspectives on morality. This book starts slow, but ends in a way that is worth the time invested.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Infidelity, Misogyny, Suicide, and Murder

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Racism, and Alcohol

li_reading's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use, Gun violence, Sexism, Antisemitism, and Fire/Fire injury

taniethrifter's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Body shaming, Death, Drug use, Hate crime, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Death of parent, and Alcohol

s_zoe_k05's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Child abuse and Stalking

carolinacortez's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

"He grew more and more enamoured of his own beauty, more and nore interested in the corruption of his own soul"

"wondering sometimes which were the more horrible, the signs of sin or the singns of age"

• relectura 2023

Y en realidad, todo el libro le parecía contener la historia de su propia vida, escrita antes de que hubiera vivido.

Después de varios años en que no leí a dorian, finalmente me di el tiempo y hoy shit, es mucho mejor de lo que recordaba jajaja, por eso sigue siendo el clásico superior y el dark acedemia og. 
La manera en la que WIlde se burlaba de las clases superior es uff chef kiss, la verdad es que tengo mucho pero poco que decir, cuando se trata de mis libros favs mi mente siempre me dice mm no se como expresarlo, solo que quede como registro que me gusta mucho más que las veces anteriores que lo lei, y pude notar cosas que había pasado por alto (todas las referencias hoosexuales de Brasil hacia Dorian).

En sus tratos con el hombre, el Destino nunca cancelaba sus cuentas.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Antisemitism, and Alcohol

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Racism, Blood, Religious bigotry, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Suicide, Torture, and Toxic relationship

booksjessreads's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I absolutely loved this book. I loved the way Wilde played with the ideas of aesthetics over ethics, the power of influence (by both the characters and the temptation of sin) and of the imitation of life in art. I loved how Basil was an angel sat on one of Dorians shoulders, and Lord Henry was the Devil sat on the other, and I enjoyed the interplay of all the characters.

I also enjoyed the dark theme of the novel. Very often, books I have read have a 'picture-perfect' view of life or have a happy ending and it was stimulating to follow a character who's life ended up being so entrenched in corruption and vanity, whilst having an ungovernable compulsion to engage with sin in order to provoke some kind of feeling or experience.

I admit that the novel was slightly flowery in places but this didn't put me off in any way and I think the florid prose actually suited the plot and the temperament of the characters.

For my first classic, I think I picked a good one! I am yet to read some more reviews and analysis of the book but from what I've read of them so far, it's helped me understand some things better! I am definitely going to give this a re-read to see how my perspective and understanding of the book changes a second time round!
 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Antisemitism